Although there are four seats open, it appears there won’t be much of a competition in the County Board of Education race. Only one seat is contested — the two-year seat. In every other position, all four-year terms, the incumbents are vying to keep their seats in uncontested races.

Normally all positions on the County Board of Education are four-year seats. In 2004, John Belforte was elected to represent Area 4, which includes the San Mateo-Foster City Elementary School District and parts of the San Mateo Union High School District. However, Belforte died shortly after the election.

Fred Leonard was appointed to fill the position with the caveat that the seat be filled with an elected official during the next election for a two-year term. Leonard spent nearly 14 years on the board and had already retired from it once. When he took the appointment, Leonard made clear he had no intention of running in 2006.

Two candidates have emerged for this seat, Anthony Amistad and Rod Hsiao.

This is the third time around for Amistad. The 46-year-old came in second in 2004, 69,953 votes behind Belforte.

“Hopefully the third time is the charm. I’m dedicated to education and I want to be in the education field. I’m involved in other nonprofit groups. This is really my giving back to the community,” Amistad said.

Amistad is a teacher and lecturer at the Amistad Education Group, a professional training institute for individuals interested in becoming loan officers. If elected, he said he plans on focusing on the children who fall through the cracks by addressing current issues and creating a safe preventive environment in the future. Amistad would also like to see a greater emphasis on technology in the classroom.

He has a 12-year-old daughter who attends Abbott Middle School in San Mateo. Amistad himself is a student. He is working on his doctorate in public administration through North Central University.

Hsiao is the chief operating officer of the Natural Heritage Institute, a small public law firm which handles international water management policy. The 42-year-old Foster City resident co-founded an educational nonprofit dedicated to public policy education, managed English programs for immigrant children and adults, volunteered as a tutor and youth group leader. He currently is a commissioner for First 5 San Mateo County.

“When kids ask for help, I’m not going to say no,” he said.

Hsiao has an interest in both economic development and public service. He worked with a number of congressman throughout the years — experience Hsiao thinks will help him become an advocate for local youth at a state level.

In the upcoming years, Hsiao would love to improve the programs available for English Language Learners.

“One out of four children in our county are English Language Learners. I want to see what other nonprofits we can partner with to accelerate the speed with which [the students] learn English,” he said.

He’d like to see the same partnerships sought out for special education programs.

In the other races it’s all familiar faces.

The Area 1 trustee will represent the Cabrillo and La Honda-Pescadero unified school districts. Susan Alvaro has filled this position for the past 12 years.

The Half Moon Bay resident worked for eight years at the nonprofit Coastside Collaborative. She resigned last year and is now doing consulting work. She volunteers to teach a poetry writing class at Camp Glenwood and serves on the Juvenile Justice Commission. Nearly 10 years Alvaro began running concerts for teens in Half Moon Bay as a safe and sober activity for the youth.

During her tenure working on the board, Alvaro is really proud of her work to improve the community schools. Now the class options are expanded and producing better results. In the upcoming term, Alvaro would like to tackle dropping the number of students who need these services.

Beverly Gerard currently represents the Bayshore, Brisbane, Jefferson and Laguna Salada Union elementary school districts and the Jefferson Union High School District, known as Area 2. Gerard joined the board by appointment 18 years ago but said she still has the same excitement and interest in helping the children that she started with.

“It’s a cliche but it really is all about the kids. That’s what it is. I work all day and at the end of the day I’m tired. But when you go to one of our court school graduations or read to the kids in a special education class and you see how what you do and the decisions you make affect their lives, you think, ‘Oh my God. I should have done 10 times more,’” she said.

Gerard works as the employee development manager for Round Table Pizza. She shares the pride Alvaro has for the success of the community schools. In the next four years, Geared anticipates special education to be the hot topic but isn’t yet sure how to answer the demands.

Current board President Rhonda Ceccato represents the South San Francisco Unified School District, known as Area 3. She is running for her second term. The 52-year-old operates a substance abuse program in South City called the Sitike Counseling Center.  

“I think this last year there was a lot of change with the superintendents. The next coming years will be to stabilize the board and sort of stabilize how we’ve been doing things. I think we need to take a look at how we can best serve the population. ... There are other ways to be more cost-efficient and more effective.” she said.

Heather Murtagh can be reached by e-mail: heather@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 105. What do you think of this story? Send a letter to the editor: letters@smdailyjournal.com.